Absolutely beautiful look at friendship and bullying that pulls no punches. I was hooked from the first chapter.

Despite being a book aimed primarily at tweens, this book can appeal to adult readers as well. Keller does a great job capturing the difficulties of middle school. She was very skillful in switching back and forth between narrators- this seems to always be hit or miss with me, and this was definitely a hit.

Another novel by Tae Keller that provides an authentic view of friendship dynamics, peer pressure, identity, and self-discovery during coming-of-age years. The novel is perfect for teaching about different perspectives and competing priorities.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an e-ARC of Jennifer Chan is Not Alone by Tae Keller.
Middle school, bullies, and friendship create a novel that is sure to speak to middle=grade readers. Keller does a great job using flashbacks to add suspense to the plot. A book that shows the consequences of giving in to peer pressure.

Tae Keller has done it again! Unputdownable book about friendship, bullying and the possibility that we aren't alone in the universe.

Part mystery and part social commentary, Keller’s book calls attention to bullying in a very unique and real way. Rooted in a middle school experience from the author’s own past, multiple perspectives of bullying episodes are examined while delving into emotions and stimuli of participants leading up to and during the events. Empathy for all parties is stressed along with being an upstander rather than a bystander. I couldn’t put this book down because the relationships were so honest and the mystery so compelling.

It has been a long time since I have read a book written for middle schoolers, so I went into Tae Keller's new novel Jennifer Chan is Not Alone with no expectations. From the summary of this book, I thought I would be reading a novel about a young girl obsessed with aliens - which I did - but was also surprised to learn that bullying was at the heart of this story, making this book much more than just entertainment to while away the hours. There are important lessons about friendship and acceptance to be learned between these pages.

When a new girl moves in across the street from Mallory Moss, she is excited to make a new friend for the summer. While it is is true that Jennifer Chan isn't like Mallory's other friends at school - she believes wholeheartedly in aliens for one - Mallory finds Jennifer's quirkiness refreshing and enjoys ponder life's bigger questions with her over the course of the summer. However, once the new school year begins, Mallory finds herself torn between her old friends and Jennifer, who her friends think is just plain weird. Mallory wants to do the right thing, but she isn't sure where her loyalties lie; but when Jennifer goes missing, Mallory is determined to track her down and make things right.

Jennifer Chan is Not Alone is a solid mix of social issues and science, combining the two to create a resounding book with a strong message. Young readers will relate to Mallory as she struggles to be true to herself and treat others with kindness while also not losing face in front of the "cool kids." This issue - at the core of Jennifer Chan is Not Alone - is one that most middle schoolers struggle with, making this book totally relatable and affirming.

Furthermore, Keller shows girls that it is okay to "geek out" and be into science through the confident and assertive Jennifer Chan, who is unabashedly a "what you see is what you get" kind of girl. Keller encourages girls to be who they are regardless of what others might think, which is an important message for the impressionable middle school crowd.

In all Jennifer Chan is Not Alone is a well-rounded novel that teaches an important lesson without coming off preachy.

Most books about bullying draw a sharp line between the bully and the bystander. I appreciate that Keller's characters are far more nebulous. These are characters really struggling to make the morally right choice instead of the easy one, instead of going along with whatever their friends are doing. That makes this an uncomfortable read, but uncomfortable in a way that's good for us. It invites us to examine our on behavior as we read.

From the first chapter, Tae Keller brings you into this story and you are unable to put it down (which I had expected!) This was a great middle grade novel, which has already been purchased in duplicate by my library.

Mallory just wants to fit in, have friends, and get through middle school. Then Jennifer moves in. Jennifer just wants to be herself….and continue her search for extraterrestrial life. They become friends, in a way. When Jennifer goes missing, Mallory is determined to find her. This is a touching story of bullying and self-acceptance, family and friendship.

Part mystery, part sci-fi, part middle school drama, all wrapped up in a story full of life lessons about how to become who you want to be—not who others tell you should be, not who you used to be, but the possibility of who you could be. This is a great book for anyone who has ever been in a bullying situation—having been bullied or been a bully. It provides a great reminder to readers that it is never too late to do the right thing or to make a change.

Jennifer Chan has just moved to Florida with her mom. Her dad has recently died from cancer and this is a fresh start. Mallory (Mal) lives right across the street from Jennifer and they meet over the summer. Mal even likes Jennifer but knows that once school starts, she will be hanging out with her best friend Reagan and Jennifer will not fit in because - well - she's kind of weird. She believes in aliens which Mal thinks is actually pretty cool but she knows that the rest of the kids at school won't. And so Jennifer becomes a bully target. The book explores what Mal does - and does not do - with the choices she is presented. The story is told from Mal's POV and bounces back and forth from past to present. So we know from the beginning that Jennifer has disappeared. What we don't know is why - and what Mallory is going to do about and how.

Man, middle school is rough! I know I would NOT want to go back and repeat those days. But that's what Tae Keller did as she prepared for this story - she relived her own experiences of being bullied in middle school. She tries to figure out the why. While not everyone will have the same experience as Tae, if reading this book helps even one kid realize that IT"S NOT THEM - it's the bully - and if that realization helps them even a tiny bit - then that is an awesome reward..

While this was a more quiet read, I did enjoy the dynamics between the friend groups and the portrayals of peer pressure that are so real. The alien/space information was also fun and interesting.

Not my favorite Tae Keller book but a solid book overall
I had concerns about Jennifer and getting some help after her father's death. I think she would've definitely benefitted from this. I also would'e loved to read more about Jennifer's mother. We get little snippets but I wanted more insight into their relationship.
I think young readers will definitely relate to the teasing/mean girl/bullying aspect, as much as it pains me to say that. Reading Keller's author note at the end broke my heart and I applaud her for writing a story so close to what she experienced.

Middle school can be tough: fitting in, shifting friendships, finding your place. Mallory discovers all this when Jennifer goes missing. She needs to examine her role in that and figure out how to do better.

The alternating past and present is a nice presentation.

Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone by Tae Keller; Random House, 267 pages ($17.99) Ages 8 to 12.

...

This beautifully written, moving coming-of-age novel by Newbery Medalist Tae Keller is dedicated to "the girl I was at twelve" and was inspired by her own life-altering experience of being savagely bullied in middle school.

The Jennifer Chan of the title is a Chinese-American girl, who has just moved from Chicago to a small Florida town after her father's death from cancer. Her father encouraged her intense interest in extraterrestrials, and she keeps journals of her research.

Keller elects to tell the story through the perspective of one of the bullies, 12-year-old Mallory Moss, whose mother is half-Korean. Mallory, "a scared little girl who fainted on Ferris wheels and turned bright red when the teacher called on her," has recently become one of the popular girls at school thanks to her new best friend Reagan. From Reagan she has learned, "You can control who you are by controlling the way people see you," by wearing the right clothes, saying the right things, knowing your place in the popularity pecking order.

When Jennifer and her mother move in across the street, Mallory is intrigued with Jennifer's enthusiastic research into whether life exists elsewhere in the universe, but is painfully aware that Jennifer will never fit into her clique at school.

In the opening chapter, the town is abuzz with the news that Jennifer has run away. Mallory uses clues in Jennifer's notebooks to try to find her and enlists her two smartest classmates in the cause. Keller skillfully weaves the girls' search for Jennifer with eloquent entries from Jennifer's notebooks pondering the mysteries of the universe and with Mallory's painful recollections of the bullying campaign she participated in.

Keller, who won the Newbery Medal for "When You Trap a Tiger," in an author's note said she reached out to her former bullies from her middle school days years later and found healing by asking not "What makes a bully?" but instead "Who were you? Who did you want to be? Who have you become?"

Although I am well into my grownup years, this middle-grade novel brought me immediately back—and I shared the awkwardness, anxiety, fear and wonder of Jennifer Chan's would-be friends. Jennifer Chan herself <I>is/i> alone—because she alone is uniquely fearless and guided by a fierce imagination, a perfect beacon of hope for some very bleak years. I loved this book. As anyone knows, it is so hard to do the right thing, to defend the underdog, and stay true to yourself, (no matter how different you are from everyone else), but it is possible. Add this to your middle-school summer reading list, if it's not there already.

So far, this is one of my favorite books published in 2022. A classmate goes missing and Mallory is determined to find her. Big questions about the universe and aliens are asked, and the story depicts very well the different roles people can play in fostering an environment of bullying. I marveled at how Tae Keller balanced telling an engaging, page-turning story while incorporating bullying in a complex and nuanced way. Thank you to NetGalley for providing the ARC of this book.

A middle schooler feels guilty that she encouraged a classmate to run away from home and decides to put her efforts toward looking for the girl. As she combs through her classmate’s journals and her own memories of their time together, the middle schooler must come to terms with how involved she actually was with the disappearance and what that means about what kind of person she is. Newberry Medal winner Tae Keller writes from the heart and personal experience in the thoughtful, touching novel Jennifer Chan is Not Alone.

Mallory Moss is psyched about seventh grade…well, sort of. She’s part of the “in” crowd with her friends, Reagan and Tess, and unlike other schools or stuff people see on TV Reagan and Tess actually care about Mallory. In fact, Reagan helps Mallory figure out what to say, how to dress, and what to do so people always see her as popular. In their small town of Norwell, Florida—what all the kids Nowhereville—the hierarchy at school matters a lot.

Then Jennifer Chan moves in across the street from Mallory. Jennifer clearly doesn’t know what to wear or say to fit in at school. The year hasn’t even started yet, and Mallory already knows that Jennifer’s going to get into trouble with pretty much everyone. She sticks out, and she doesn’t seem to care.

The biggest evidence of this is that Jennifer believes in aliens. Like, legit landed-from-Mars-to-beam-people-up aliens. She says Nowhereville has a special energy; she’s even seen crop circles that are hardcore proof that something is up with the town, and that something is extraterrestrial.

Mallory is fascinated by Jennifer, because Jennifer seems so confident. Nothing like Mallory who struggles almost daily. If it wasn’t for Reagan, Mallory knows she would have been an outcaste at school.

But that title is given to Jennifer when the year starts. As people get to know her, they realize what a weirdo she is. Mallory feels bad; she kind of gave Jennifer the idea that she believes in aliens too. Now, though, Jennifer expects them to continue their friendship all throughout seventh grade.

Even though Mallory doesn’t want to be Jennifer’s friend, she tries to help her out. So do Reagan and Tess; kind of, anyway. Reagan keeps talking about making sure Jennifer knows her place, but Mallory knows Reagan would never do anything really bad.

Until she crosses a line. What’s worse, Mallory is right there beside her. Then Jennifer runs away from home, and Mallory starts to get the creeping sensation that she and her friends are responsible.

She puts together a plan to look for Jennifer using all the things she learned about the new girl over the summer. As she does so, Mallory starts to realize that even if Jennifer kept saying that aliens were real—and even if they weren’t—those things shouldn’t have stopped Mallory from trying to be a real friend to Jennifer. But if she wasn’t her friend, what was she?

Author Tae Keller shares in an author’s note at the end of the book her experiences in being bullied as a middle schooler. She talks about reaching out years later to the bullies who made her miserable and having frank conversations with them, then using that research to form the core of the book. The result is a novel that will undoubtedly speak to the hearts of most middle schoolers struggling with bullying, whether as a victim, an observer, or as the bully themselves.

Keller weaves Jennifer’s belief in aliens through the story in the most organic way. Jennifer’s refusal to give up on an impossible situation will convince even the most skeptical reader to consider the fact that absolutely anything is possible. If aliens can be real, then bullies can reform their ways.

By making Mallory the main character, readers get a firsthand look into the ambivalence many students feel when witnessing or even participating in bullying. It’s easy to talk about how bullying is wrong in class or with grownups; it’s much harder to remember those things when the situation is live and center. Keller gives Mallory opportunities to fail as a character so that her redemption is that much more powerful.

Teachers and parents alike who want to start a conversation about bullying that goes beyond the victim and the instigator absolutely must read and share this book with their middle schoolers.

This book gives a lot to think about through a good story--good characters and character development.